


Rainstorm

by jedicallie (writergirlie)



Series: Callista Returns series [4]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-16
Updated: 2010-05-16
Packaged: 2017-10-09 11:35:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/86868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writergirlie/pseuds/jedicallie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luke and Callista get caught in a sudden rainstorm. (AU, sequel to <i>Out of Darkness</i>)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rainstorm

**Author's Note:**

> For my fellow Callistars, because there can never be enough L/C romance :).

_One summer night_

_We ran away for a while_

_Laughing, we hurried beneath the sky_

_To an obscure place to hide_

_That no one could find_

_And we drifted to another state of mind_

_And imagined I was yours and you were mine_

_As we lay upon the grass_

_There in the dark_

_Underneath the stars_

\-- “Underneath the Stars (Mariah Carey)

 

 

Water had a scent.

 

Luke didn’t believe her at first when she’d told him this years ago, but he had kindly—and so patiently—indulged her when she’d explained it all to him. How the smell of the ocean had a sharp, salty tang to it; how the morning dew drops on flower petals had a subtle, delicate lilt of an aroma; how the cold mist of frosty air had a bite that cut into one’s lungs the minute it mingled with one’s breath.

 

And then there was rainwater: the sweet, near-musky scent of fresh water from the heavens, soaking into the earth and making everything come alive under its touch.

 

It was the smell of the Yavin jungles, a smell she’d never forgotten, despite the many years away from this place. The scent that always came to her when she thought of Luke.

 

“It’s a downpour!”

 

Luke was half-laughing/half-groaning when he said this, the steady drum of rain nearly drowning out his voice. He squinted against the onslaught of water, looking up at the small patches of sky just barely visible through the canopy of Massassi trees. It had been a brilliant, crystalline blue just an hour ago—before the dense mass of clouds had moved in without warning and began to gush forth water within minutes.

 

“I know, isn’t it wonderful?”

 

He laughed harder. She felt his arms circle around her waist, then a second later, felt his chest press against her back.

 

“I had a feeling you’d say that,” he said, laying a kiss right on her pulse point.

 

She smiled and looked back at him, reaching behind her to cup his head in her hand and pull him in for a proper kiss. “You told me you loved the rain.”

 

“Only because you love it.” He said the last words into her mouth, where she felt, more than heard them. “C’mon… we’ll get soaked if we stay out here any longer!”

 

She let him tug on her hand, running with him and laughing along the way, mud splashing beneath their feet, though neither of them could be bothered to care. They finally came to a stop when they found relative shelter under a cluster of thick branches from a particularly ancient tree; he sank down onto the roots then fell back against the trunk, chest still rising and sinking with each breath as he looked up at her and smiled.

 

It was that smile that took her breath away every single time.

 

“How do you do that?” he said. He reached up with his hand and she took it, letting him pull her down to sit beside him.

 

“Do what?”

 

“Manage to look beautiful even in the rain and mud.”

 

She laughed. “You are quite the charmer, aren’t you?”

 

“You think so?”

 

“I’m quite certain a look like a drowned rat,” she said, feeling the heaviness of her jacket that was soaked through to the blouse she wore underneath, weighing her down, and the sticky, grimy sensation of sweat mixed with the rainwater, creating friction against her skin every time she moved. “But I love you for lying.”

 

“It’s not a lie.”

 

He pulled her into another kiss, deeper this time, his hands threading in her slick, tangled hair. She could taste the water on him, salty-sweet and mixed with the hint of cider he’d had earlier that day.

 

“Do you remember the last time we got caught in a storm like this?” he said, smiling against her mouth.

 

She nodded, the memory of it flooding her at once, like a dam bursting through its seams. She’d been on Yavin less than a week that time, still taking it all in and marveling at how quickly her life had changed in the span of a few days: how she’d been released from her prison of more than thirty years to awaken in this new body, reunited with a lover she didn’t think she’d live to touch, to kiss, to hold again. The sensations had been almost too much to bear, then—overcoming her like the tidal waves from the Algic current when he’d kissed her amongst the trees. 

 

“Do you remember what happened afterwards?”

 

He answered her question with a smile, tracing her lips with his finger, then his eyes traveled upwards to her forehead, and gently, he touched the scar that ran across it, running his finger along its length as though committing it to memory, taking in what it meant and what he’d seen—what she’d let him see.

 

Everything that came before that had been like a nightmare: the _Eye_ and dying and coming back to life; being severed from the Force, and the long, empty years without him. All of it was finally over. All of it had led them to this.

 

“Luke…”

 

He understood what she was asking; she knew he would.

 

Her fingers fumbled with her jacket, clumsy from the weight of the material. His hands collided with hers as he slipped it off her shoulders, fought with them again to find the buttons of her blouse, but this time she let him take over, shrugging it off when he finally undid the last button, gasping at the feel of his palms press down on the small of her back to pull her closer.

 

His own shirt was discarded soon afterwards, rain breaking through their newfound shelter, pelting her skin, his skin, its sweet aroma filling her lungs as he moved over her, his mouth making the shape of her name as he whispered it over and over through his kiss.

 

“Callie…”

 

Through the blur of water and tears, she saw him, all sinewy muscle and hair falling into his eyes, and in the last breath before his release, she heard him say something that trapped the air in her throat.

 

When the waves died down, she blinked back at him, uncertain that she’d heard what she thought she just heard. Hoping that she wasn’t wrong.

 

“Did you just… Did you just ask me to…”

 

He looked down on her with a smile, leaning forward to kiss her and rolling to his side to lean on his elbow.

 

“Marry me,” he said again. The words were clearer now, though no less stunning. He brought his hand to her face. “Marry me, Callista.”

 

She couldn’t tell whether her cheeks were wet with water or tears.

 

“I love you. I always have. And I can’t imagine not having you in my life.” With a smile, he added, “Forever, if we can manage it.”

 

“Forever…”

 

She whispered the word as though it now had new meaning—which it did.

 

“Yes…”

 

His eyes lit up. “Yes?” he said, as if wanting to make sure, as if making an imprint of the moment.

 

She smiled and nodded, laughing shakily, the way she had on the _Hunter’s Luck_ when she discovered that the miracle she’d prayed for had actually worked, when she’d opened her eyes to see him welcome her back to life.

 

“Yes…”

 

The rain had slowed, clouds thinning through the thicket of branches. Water fell on them from where it had gathered on the leaves high above them. Callista opened her mouth and caught it on her tongue.

 

She’d never tasted rainwater so sweet.

 


End file.
